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Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs macmon Network Access Control comparison

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Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

Cisco Identity Services Eng...
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
2nd
Average Rating
8.2
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
144
Ranking in other categories
Cisco Security Portfolio (4th)
macmon Network Access Control
Ranking in Network Access Control (NAC)
13th
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.8
Number of Reviews
3
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2026, in the Network Access Control (NAC) category, the mindshare of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) is 18.4%, down from 24.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of macmon Network Access Control is 2.6%, down from 2.8% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Network Access Control (NAC) Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE)18.4%
macmon Network Access Control2.6%
Other79.0%
Network Access Control (NAC)
 

Featured Reviews

NF
IT Network Manager at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees
Has improved authentication management and simplified visitor network access
The log capacity in Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could be enhanced because today natively on the ISE can only have a look at the logs from the day before. You cannot search into the oldest logs; you have to use another tool for that. This can be blocking if you don't have any log consolidation solution. To do a search for an issue or something that happened two days ago, you cannot search directly in there. The capacity of Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) could be enhanced. Something between one week and one month for the log capacity would be nice.
SA
Wireless Network Engineer at Forvia
The product is stable and easily connects with clients, but it is not scalable and does not provide deeper troubleshooting
There is no information on the protocol where the clients stop to authenticate. There are some policies, but I don't know whether the device stopped on the authentication or authorization levels. I don't know whether it is getting the right certificate. I have to work on assumptions. If I want to go to the history to see what happened to a client the previous day or two days ago, it will be very hard because the server is used by multiple devices. For every device and user, macmon creates a file into the RADIUS appliance for deep troubleshooting. To troubleshoot, it creates a bunch of files. If I want to check what happened in the history, I have to check all the files. In some cases, there are 100 files. It is impossible for me to go to each file to see where it happens. It will be good to find the file my client authenticated based on the MAC address. Otherwise, the product must have one file for a specific date. I don't have any problem in terms of dates because it's normal. However, having hundreds of files per day is very hard to troubleshoot. The solution must allow users to filter files based on dates. It must provide deeper troubleshooting and reduced log. Also, the RADIUS logs are very huge.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"The feature that I found most valuable is profiling. We use that to profile certain types of devices, and then depending on the manufacturer, drop them into the appropriate VLAN without us having to go in and manually add the devices."
"The most valuable feature is the ASDM - the user interface makes it very easy to configure the firewall."
"The most valuable feature is the flexibility of the policy sets."
"The most valuable thing in ISE is the adoption of EAP deep that came in [version] 2.7, so we can do authentication based on user and machine certificates in one authentication."
"The solution enables us to do everything from one interface."
"The interface is pretty easy to use."
"The implementation is very simple."
"It has improved our organization very much because we're now adopting the SGTs, Security Group Tags, and we're leveraging security based on those tags on our core systems and integrating with other SG firewalls."
"We use it with our Cisco switches so we can see which switch it is actually connected to."
"The API is a great way to get information from other tools."
"The ease of connecting with the client is valuable for me."
"When we started with macmon we had immediate success, we could see our network and see the devices and could easily go online."
 

Cons

"The initial setup process is complex since there are so many big components."
"I believe that Cisco can improve the way its policies are built because it's a little complex."
"The solution is not so user-friendly."
"If Cisco could grant more control, the features could be more focused on network and security administration, reducing the need for integration with other components."
"It would be nice if it could be configured easily by default."
"Cisco could improve the GUIs on their hardware."
"I have complaints. I don't enjoy the licensing model."
"The installation is not straightforward, it took us approximately one month."
"The service macmon offers is already great."
"The solution must allow users to filter files based on dates."
"The single sign-on process can be improved and the interface should be made more user-friendly."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

"For the Avast virus scan, we pay around USD $95 per machine for five years which includes all updates and technical support."
"The pricing is fair for what it does."
"If you go directly with Cisco for the implementation it's very, very expensive."
"Its price is probably good if you use all of its features and functionalities to protect your environment. If you use only a part of the functionality, its price is too high. It is just a question of value and the functionality you use."
"Cisco has actually transitioned to a lot of subscription models, fees, and licenses."
"I believe I have paid around $1,000 in licensing fees. The license is annual."
"The solution’s pricing is reasonable."
"The pricing is complicated."
"The solution is not expensive."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
Manufacturing Company
10%
Financial Services Firm
10%
Outsourcing Company
9%
Comms Service Provider
7%
Manufacturing Company
17%
Comms Service Provider
12%
Outsourcing Company
10%
Computer Software Company
9%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business45
Midsize Enterprise32
Large Enterprise91
No data available
 

Questions from the Community

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Aruba ClearPass is a Network Access Control tool that gives secure network access to multiple device types. You can adapt the policies to VPN access, wired, or wireless access. You can securely ...
What are the main differences between Cisco ISE and Forescout Platform?
OK, so Cisco ISE uses 802.1X to secure switchports against unauthorized access. The drawback of this is that ISE cannot secure the port if a device does not support 802.1x. Cameras, badge readers, ...
How does Cisco ISE compare with Fortinet FortiNAC?
Cisco ISE uses AI endpoint analytics to identify new devices based on their behavior. It will also notify you if someone plugs in with a device that is not allowed and will block it. The user exper...
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Also Known As

Cisco ISE
macmon NAC
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Aegean Motorway, BC Hydro, Beachbody, Bucks County Intermediate Unit , Cisco IT, Derby City Council, Global Banking Customer, Gobierno de Castilla-La Mancha, Houston Methodist, Linz AG, London Hydro, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Molina Healthcare, MST Systems, New South Wales Rural Fire Service, Reykjavik University, Wildau University
More than 1,500 installations in all over Europe in all industries: Stepchange, Volkswagen, Vivantes Healthcare, MBDA Weapons, APS engineering, Alfred Ritter GmbH (Ritter Sport), Haßberg-Kliniken, 1. FSV Mainz 05 eV., Siempelkamp, AEB etc.
Find out what your peers are saying about Cisco Identity Services Engine (ISE) vs. macmon Network Access Control and other solutions. Updated: September 2026.
913,683 professionals have used our research since 2012.